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I may have mentioned
this before, but I find religion absolutely fascinating. I myself am
a Christian, but I go out of my way to learn about different beliefs
and to meet those who follow a path that is different from mine.
Truth be told, we are often more alike than we are different. Some
things might be worded differently, but there are still basic
principles in common. Since I've been given the go-ahead to talk
about different beliefs in a non-judgemental way, I thought that I'd
talk about a religion that is more popular but misunderstood these
days-Wicca. I've learned a good bit about it through having friends
who practice and from one of my favorite websites,
ReligiousTolerance.org.

Exactly how long Wicca
has been around depends on who you ask. Some would say that the faith
as it is practiced today can be traced back to a branch that started
in 1940s Britain. Others would say that, since many of the deities,
beliefs and holidays observed come from the ancient Celts and other
Pagan societies, it is thousands of years old. While exactly how
many and which deities are recognized varies from person
to person, there is a very strong focus on nature and the general
cycles of life.

I guess I'm mentioning
Wicca in a women's interest blog because it is a very
'woman-positive' religion. By this, I mean that it does not have the
solidly patriarchal structure that religions such as Judaism, Islam
and Christianity have. It
actually doesn't have any
'central
structure'-while groups known as 'covens' do sometimes gather, Wicca
is largely a solitary faith. It also doesn't have any written
scriptures, but the teachings are orally passed down from generation
to generation. Wicca has a very positive view of female sexuality, seeing sex as a gift from the Goddess. This isn't to say that Wiccans 'sleep around'-just that sex doesn't have the stigma seen in some other religions.

In
Wicca, the feminine is seen as being equal to the masculine, if not
'above'. In the old days, women were the ones who were the doctors,
wise people, teachers and leaders of the communities. While many in
the world seem to have forgotten this, Wicca celebrates the
contributions women have made to the world and gives special honor to
the 'crones'-the older, wiser women who are everything from teachers
to mediators to healers. In a coven, it's not uncommon for the person
'running things' to be a priestess. There's not any 'anger' or bias
against men; it's just that many aspects of nature are referred to in
the feminine sense because they follow the lead of the groups their
beliefs are based on.

Some common
misconceptions:

Wiccans do not
worship Satan. There is actually no concept even remotely resembling
the evil being Christians and Muslims call 'Satan' It's kind of hard
to worship something if you don't recognize that it exists!

Wiccans are not
evil, In fact, their primary ethic, the Wiccan Rede, expressly
forbids doing harm to others. One English translation is, “Do
as thou wilt, but harm no one.” Here, no one refers to
other people, future generations, the environment and, in some
cases, even yourself.
In addition to the Rede, there is the three-fold law: "All good that a person does to another returns threefold in this life: harm is also returned threefold."

Wicca and
Witchcraft are associated, but not entirely interchangeable. Some
Wiccans practice witchcraft, meaning that they use what is called
magick (no, I didn't misspell it) to direct things in their lives.
However, others are drawn only to the spiritual aspects.
Technically, witchcraft isn't a religion and can be practiced by
anyone. I've only known two witches-a man and a woman-though, so I'm
not totally 'up to speed' on how it works.

As you can see, Wicca
is a very interesting and feminine-positive religion. If you want
more information, check out www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm.